My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Colorado

Hi-

I had some lab testing done in 5/08 and again in 9/08. The billing department at the lab billed my 5/08 service to my former health insurance (from 2007), but they did bill the 9/08 service to the correct insurance. I didn't realize this until I found an entry on my credit report from a collections agency saying the 5/08 debt had not been paid. I called the lab billing department to figure out what had happened. When I realized they had billed the wrong insurance company, I again gave them my current insurance (same as they billed for 9/08) and the customer service representative said she would bill the correct company. (This was on 8/5/09.)

I was watching my medical claims and did not see the claim come up, so I called again in 9/09. The lab assured me it was being billed, that it would just take time. Finally today, 10/12/09, I called again to check on the claims' status. The lab's billing representative told me the claim was rejected for not being submitted under the 'timeliness' deadlines of the health insurance company.

I called my insurance company to see if this could be appealed, and the insurance company told me the lab had never even submitted the claim. The insurance company also assured me that if the lab had billed the incorrect insurance within a timely manner, my current insurance would still accept the claim, even if it has been 1+ year since the service date. I called the lab back to explain this, and this representative told me the debt had been sent to collections a long time ago, and the lab could do nothing about it anymore anyway. (Obviously it had been sent to collections far before my first phone call, when the lab agreed to bill the correct insurance.)

I am sure something in here must violate either the health insurance to lab contract, or the law. If they did not submit the bill to the proper insurance when they could, are they allowed to report it to collections? If they told me they would bill to my insurance company, are they legally allowed to not bill the insurance, say they did, and then also say they never could anyway (since collections has the bill)? They are saying this is my fault because I did not provide the correct insurance information in a timely manner, but I have proof that they had it because they submitted another lab to the correct insurance company 4 months later. What recourse do I have here?

Thanks so much.